Marine creatures shown at risk on David Attenborough鈥檚 Blue Planet television series may not have struck viewers employed in construction as having any bearing on their working lives.
Nor indeed may the government鈥檚 Resources &Waste Strategy, published in December, the publicity for which was largely based on household recycling.
But they do.
Blue Planet transformed public attitudes to plastic pollution in the world鈥檚 oceans into a demand that politicians and others 鈥渄o something鈥� 鈥� which the Considerate Constructors Scheme now is.
Some will see the prospect of tighter rules on waste disposal and recycling as an unwelcome additional cost.
But could the new policy emphasis on avoiding waste while encouraging recycling and reuse save construction firms money by making them rethink what they use and how?
The government鈥檚 strategy looks to two areas of innovation for the industry: reducing the amount of material it uses, and extending the 鈥榩olluter pays鈥� principle to its materials.
It said the construction, excavation and demolition sector is estimated to have produced around 120 million tonnes of waste in 2014 and while it had successfully diverted waste from landfill 鈥� so avoiding the landfill tax 鈥� 鈥渢here is considerable scope for further improvement鈥�.
Fundamental changes in the industry with digitalisation, off-site manufacturing and new materials offer 鈥渉uge potential for increasing resource efficiency鈥�, the strategy says, and a 鈥榬oadmap鈥� towards zero avoidable waste would be issued next year.
Although construction鈥檚 efforts to reduce the use of landfill looks superficially good, waste industry consultant Robin Latchem says: 鈥淐onstruction waste is a problem. The industry may claim around 90% diversion from landfill but there is a huge element of energy recovery through incinerators in that, rather than recycling, and pre颅cious little attempt at reuse or waste reduction.
鈥淚ndeed some research suggests that 13% of products delivered to con颅struction sites are sent to landfill without being used.鈥�
Latchem says the industry鈥檚 organisation creates further difficulties as 鈥渢he chain from client and architects through to main contractors and sub-contractors makes a disciplined approach to sustainability very challenging.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been estimated that 70% of a product鈥檚 recyclability comes at the design stage, which is often down to the attitude of clients or architects. It is only with the trend to modular buildings that we can see a chance for moving the industry to recycle and reuse more materials.鈥�
Anna Surgenor, senior sustainability advisor and circular economy programme lead at the UK Green Building Council, says: 鈥淐onstruction, demolition and excavation in the UK currently produces a staggering 120 million tonnes of waste each year. This is nearly 60% of all UK waste.
鈥淭here is evidently a huge opportunity for the sector to improve and we support Defra鈥檚 work with the Green Construction Board to establish a definition of zero avoidable waste in the sector.鈥�
Anyone puzzled by Surgenor鈥檚 job title had best get used to the increasingly trendy term 鈥榗ircular economy鈥�. This describes an economy in which materials are whenever possible reused or recycled rather than discarded in landfills or anywhere else. There is probably an example of a 鈥榗ircular鈥� initiative coming to a site near you soon.
The government will also consult on 鈥榚xtended producer responsibility鈥� for 鈥榗ertain construction materials鈥� yet to be defined. Extended producer responsibility exists notably in electrical and electronic goods 鈥� and means producers are responsible for their goods once consumers have finished with them.
All but the smallest producers of waste electrical and electronic equipment must join a producer compliance scheme and contribute to the cost of the industry providing for the collection, treatment, recovery and environmentally sound disposal for its goods.
The idea is that contributing to these costs gives that industry an incentive to reduce waste by making products that are 鈥榞reener鈥�.
Some industries have got in first with voluntary schemes. For example, the Resource and Waste strategy quoted the case of the VinylPlus Initiative, a commitment by the PVC industry鈥檚 value chain to recycle 800,000 tonnes by 2020 across Europe 鈥� equivalent to one-third of all PVC that becomes waste.
Defra says old window frames are the most commonly recycled PVC items, followed by cables, flooring, pipes and fittings and rigid films. Recycled PVC can be used in windows, pipes and floorings.
Plastic of all types is a construction material ripe for recycling. Considerate Constructors Scheme chief executive Edward Hardy says the idea for work on reducing and recycling plastics came from member firms conscious of public concern.
The campaign鈥檚 Spotlight on Plastics and Packaging campaign aims to raise awareness of how the industry can reduce, reuse and recycle plastics and packaging and will feature a best practice hub.
Hardy says: 鈥淟ast year our industry partners said plastic and packaging was causing concern to them and the public, partly following David Attenborough鈥檚 Blue Planet series, so we decided to highlight it.鈥�
He says 95% of scheme members felt the industry should do more to reduce its consumption of plastics and packaging, but 51% had little understanding of the regulations involved and 31% admitted they frequently used un-recylable plastics and packaging.
The Considerate Constructors Scheme says the industry is the second largest consumer of UK plastics and so should 鈥渄rastically reduce [its] consumption of plastics and packaging鈥�.
This is easier said than done since even household recycling is bedevilled by confusion over whether or not different types of plastics are recyclable. That best practice hub should prove useful.
Hardy says: 鈥淭he scheme鈥檚 campaign provides resources, practical support and guidance helping everyone to take effective measures to tackle this issue.
鈥淲hile considerable progress is being made 鈥� with over 76% of scheme-registered construction sites setting targets to reduce, reuse and recycle waste 鈥� it is clear that a concerted effort to raise further awareness, and to provide the necessary support, is needed to achieve this drastic reduction in waste from plastics and packaging.鈥�
Although plastic is the most concerning pollutant, other materials such as cardboard, paper and timber can be used for packaging and be recycled.
Hardy says research from the government-backed recycling advisory body WRAP showed that 23% of UK-produced plastic was used in construction and that this made up 60% of skipped waste.
鈥淧eople are trying to do things differently,鈥� he says. 鈥淓xamples include plastic sheeting on floors being replaced by cardboard and one company that wrapped doors in plastic is now using cardboard, and moving to hanging doors at the end of the process so they do not have to wrap them at all.
鈥淭here are clearly imaginative things to be done and the industry must rise to the challenge.鈥�
Industry bodies are taking note of the shifting climate of opinion. A Home Builders Federation spokesman says: 鈥淰ia our technical team we track construction waste streams as a tool to measure against our peers and develop any strategies and best practice out of that. For example we have been running a bespoke, reduced-size plasterboard length to reduce wastage.鈥�
Many companies built to storey heights of 2,325mm, yet the standard plasterboard height is typically 2,400mm long thus wasting some 75mm of each board.
鈥淏y working with the sector, the introduction of a 2,300mm plasterboard has been produced as 鈥榖espoke standard鈥� which eliminates this waste, with the only waste left being that created around openings and services,鈥� the HBF says.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a simple yet very effective initiative that demonstrates the kind of thing the industry is doing in this space.鈥�
Brain Berry, chief executive of the Federation of Master Builders, can see the policy climate changing but fears it will leads to unreasonable costs for smaller firms.
鈥淲e recognise the need to reduce waste in the construction industry and to be more resourceful with the materials we use,鈥� Berry says. 鈥淗owever, the government must ensure that any new regulations are not too onerous on small construction firms, especially at a time of great economic uncertainty.
聽鈥淲e would be happy to work with the government to tackle this issue in a sensible manner and avoid introducing any regulations that have a disproportionate impact on construction SMEs,鈥� he adds.
Berry suggests ministers could usefully look at 鈥渙ver-packaging of construction products and materials, which is an issue that has been flagged by our members鈥�.
Domestic recycling took a long time to become a normal part of households鈥� lives, but is now commonplace.
Will the same happen one day in construction?
Beating the criminals
It鈥檚 bad enough for the environment when construction waste ends up in landfills, but worse when it is fly-tipped on unauthorised sites by unscrupulous drivers dealing with equally unscrupulous contractors.
This is another issue that has reached a critical mass in public concern, leading to the Independent Review into Serious and Organised Crime in the Waste Sector, whose report was issued by the government last November.
It noted: 鈥淭he intentional mis-description of waste is widespread in the construction and demolition industry, with hazardous waste frequently labelled as 鈥榠nert鈥� to avoid the highest band of landfill tax.鈥�
Producers 鈥� construction and demolition companies 鈥� 鈥渁re technically responsible for ensuring their waste is handled responsibly [but] due to the complexities of several layers of sub-contractors being involved in many cases, this responsibility is, in practice, devolved from waste producers鈥ven within legitimate waste businesses, construction waste can easily be inaccurately described as 鈥榠nert鈥�.鈥�
The review also expressed concern about materials being described as 鈥榤uckaway鈥�, which it called 鈥渁n essentially meaningless term which implies 鈥榠nert鈥� rubble but can in fact include everything from steel to asbestos鈥�.
Sir James Bevan, chief executive of the Environment Agency, went as far as to call waste crime the 鈥榥ew narcotics鈥�, but said: 鈥淲hat we know about is almost certainly only a fraction of what occurs.鈥�
This article was first published in the聽
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